The Barnwell low-level radioactive solid waste burial site is located in Barnwell County, South Carolina, 5 miles west of the city of Barnwell. Approximately 1,050 feet of stratified gravel, sand, silt, clay, and limestone, ranging in age from Late Cretaceous to Holocene, underlie the burial site. Ground water within the study area occurs under water table, semi-confined, and artesian conditions. Overland flow and most precipitation that recharges the ground-water system at the burial site is discharged to Marys Branch Creek. This creek originates as a spring about 3,000 feet south of the burial site and flows to the southwest into lower Three Runs. Lower Three Runs discharges into the Savannah River. Waste shipments to the site were reduced from 200,000 cubic feet per month for the period 1971 to 1979 to 100,000 cubic feet per month by October 1981. The wastes consist of both nonfuel cycle and nuclear fuel-cycle wastes. The standard trench dimensions at the burial site are 100 feet wide by 1,000 feet long and 22 feet deep. Trench bottoms are a minimum of 5 feet above the water table. Seven soil mapping units occur at the waste disposal facility. The three major soil types are all well drained and cover approximately 84 percent of the study area. (USGS)
